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THE LEGACY OF AFFIRMATIVE ACTION

A majority of Americans believe that affirmative action programs
have improved conditions for black Americans in recent years. A
poll conducted in 1999 for Newsweek, by Princeton Research
Associates, found that 52 percent of blacks and 51 percent of
whites believe such programs have done â€œa lotâ€? to help
blacks in this country or have helped them â€œsome.â€? Only
32 percent of blacks and 36 percent of whites believe that the
programs have done â€œlittleâ€? or â€œnothingâ€? to
improve matters. (The remainder of the respondents said they
â€œdidn't know.â€?) In one of its 2001 polls, the Gallup
Organization found that, in response to a question worded
differently, 58 percent of Americans think that affirmative action
has been good for this country, up slightly from 54 percent in
1995.

If anything, the perceived need for affirmative action programs
has increased in recent years, with 56 percent of Americans in the
2001 Gallup poll saying that they are necessary â€œto help
women and minorities overcome discrimination,â€? up from 49
percent who said so in 1995. Furthermore, 66 percent of Americans
in the 2001 poll said they believe such programs will always be
needed, compared with only 30 percent who said the day will come
when they will no longer be necessary.